Having established Jesus mastery over creation, the spirit world and sickness and disease Mark turns his focus on the relationship between Jesus and the religious leaders of the day - the Scribes and Pharisees.
The religious leaders are shown to be hypocrites who are concerned with appearance rather than substance. They have self serving rules that provide for their advantage while denying justice to the poor and weak. Jesus is not about religion, but relationship.
This is demonstrated in a rather harsh way when he presses the faith of the Syrophoenician woman to its limits before providing for her. I wonder if this wrangling was more about plumbing the depth of the woman's faith than keeping the faith "pure".
Chapter 7 ends with Jesus healing a deaf man and straightening out his speech impediment. Mark is known for his "Hidden Messiah" where Jesus instructs people not to tell what has happened to them. Does Jesus do this because he knows human nature and that having been told to keep a secret they will be more likely to tell, or does he want to buy time for his ministry to come to fruition. I also notice that the crowds have moved from fear to astonishment.
About Me
- Pastor Bill
- I am a committed follower of Jesus Christ, a happy husband, father and grandfather!
2 comments:
Vs 29 excites me for three reasons :)
1. Jesus was primarily focused on the chosen ones, yet He still showed compassion for ALL of mankind
2. Jesus was nowhere near the daughter (physically) when the healing took place (like He heals now)
3. Once again it is proven that we are rewarded for our faith!
Praise the Lord!
Too much in one chapter!!!
I love the section about rejecting God's commandments in favor of human traditions. When I look at the struggling churches today, I see this is a major problem - we love our 'traditions' - a broad category - and have made them a substitute for the gospel.
Then the section about the syrophoenecian woman - I never come up with a satisfying way to read this passage. Is it possible that Jesus had his vision of his ministry expanded by the woman's questions? Is it possible that Jesus is figuring out exactly the scope of his mission? Or does he know exactly the details and plan? I'm not sure.
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